Jacqueline Baird - Mediterranean Tycoons

‘Are you all right with this new arrangement, Eloise?’ Katy finally asked, her brown eyes sparkling. ‘Personally, I think it’s an incredible opportunity.’

An opportunity for whom? Eloise wondered. And did they have a choice?

‘Yes. You’re probably right,’ she conceded. A steel band of tension was now throbbing across her head, and she took very little part in the ensuing conversation, her thoughts and emotions in chaos.

It didn’t make sense. If Marcus had cared for her, she could perhaps understand him investing in KHE. But he hadn’t contacted her in over three months. So why? The question went around and around in her brain.

Another bottle of champagne and another round of toasts were drunk to the new partnership, and everyone congratulated everyone else. While Eloise had to battle to keep a smile on her face, her lips were numb with the effort.

‘I know I said I would not interfere in the running of the business.’ Marcus’s comment made Eloise sit up and take notice.

‘But KHE is a bit of an obscure title for designer jewellery. No disrespect to you, Katy and Harry, but did you never consider something like, “Eloise by Design”? It has a much more sophisticated ring to it.’ Marcus dropped the original name invented by Chloe and Eloise into the conversation, and watched with narrowed eyes as all the colour faded from Eloise’s face. She looked as guilty as sin, exactly as he’d expected. Though he hadn’t expected the overlong tense pause, and he turned his attention to Katy. She was staring at Eloise with a mixture of horror and sympathy! There was something between them Marcus did not understand…

‘We did consider it,’ Katy answered. ‘But decided we preferred the more enigmatic KHE. We thought it sounds like “key,” and the key to a well-dressed woman is the jewellery she wears.’

Eloise gave an inward sigh of relief when Marcus appeared to accept the explanation and asked Katy to dance. At least it would get him away from the table, and give her a chance to try and get her thoughts into some kind of order and make sense of the evening’s proceedings.

‘No, sorry, Marcus. Harry and I are responsible parents now. It’s time we called a taxi and got back to our son. And, by the look of Ted, we’d better take him with us. He doesn’t look capable of making his own way back to the hotel.’

‘What about you, Eloise?’ Marcus queried, turning his head to glance down at her by his side. ‘The night is still young. Shall we dance?’ His dark eyes lit with amusement and something else she did not want to acknowledge dared her to agree. ‘Or are you going to desert me as well?’

Eloise felt the colour surge in her cheeks, and prayed no one noticed. She had been supremely conscious of Marcus all through the meal. The occasional brush of his thigh against hers beneath the table, the apparently friendly gesture when he placed his hand on her arm when making a point, the rub of his shoulder against her when he leant forward to fill Katy’s wine glass. He hadn’t singled her out particularly, but he’d managed to arouse her to a state of tension without even trying. It was only the presence of her friends that had allowed her to retain a modicum of self-control. Until Ted had dropped his bombshell—and she was still trying to get her head around the fact that Marcus had bought into the company. Dancing with the man was the last thing she wanted. ‘No…’ She began to make her excuse.

‘Of course she will,’ Katy cut in, rising to her feet along with Harry and Ted. ‘Eloise has been working like a slave for months; she deserves some fun.’ Katy answered before Eloise could mouth her refusal. ‘She is staying here for a couple of days to sort out any teething troubles, so a late night won’t kill her.’

‘Do you mind?’ Eloise finally found her voice. ‘I can speak for myself,’ she shot back.

‘I know, Eloise,’ Katy responded, suddenly serious. ‘I’m sorry.’

Marcus glanced back from one woman to the other and for the second time that evening thought there was something going on between them, but dismissed the notion when Eloise spoke.

‘Don’t apologise.’ Lifting defiant green eyes to Marcus, she added, ‘Yes, I’d like to dance.’ She had vowed never to be afraid of any man again, and she was damned if she would allow Marcus to intimidate her.

The others left, and Eloise found herself held in Marcus’s arms, moving around the dance floor to blues music in a state of nervous tension.

Marcus glanced down at her stiffly held head. The thick red coronet of curls had sprouted a few tendrils around her face. He could feel the tension in her and he deliberately tightened his hold, moving more heavily against her.

She shivered in response, but fought the emotion and won, by dint of squaring her shoulders and tilting back her head to stare up into his face. ‘Are you going to tell me why, after three months of ignoring me, you’ve suddenly bought into our company?’

A satiric smile curved his expressive mouth. ‘Perhaps I saw a good deal, and took it,’ he said smoothly. ‘But you and I both know the real reason.’

‘I have no idea,’ she muttered, her eyes wide and puzzled, searched his hard features. Perhaps he wanted to make up to her for ignoring her past three months. The amazing thought popped into her head. It was an extravagant gesture, but maybe—just maybe—it was true, and for a while she allowed herself the luxury of believing it.

‘No doubt you will enlighten me when you want to,’ she said with the first genuine smile she had given him all evening. She was too confused and too tired to argue and, some of the tension easing out of her, she relaxed in his arms.

She knew damn well what he meant. Why else would she relax in his arms and smile? A ploy as old as Eve, but it was too little too late as far as Marcus was concerned. He knew it was a mockery of innocent surrender, but knowing that didn’t lessen the impact of her sexy body against his. Marcus almost groaned out loud. Her softness seemed to accommodate the hard planes and angles of him as if made to measure. She was so beautiful, so sweet and receptive. Christos! Where had that come from? She was about as sweet as a wasp!

Reining in his raging libido, Marcus stopped and pushed her lightly away from him. He saw the surprise in her eyes, but ignored it. ‘I think you and I need to talk, but not here, somewhere private.’ Dropping a hand to her waist, he surveyed her beneath heavily hooded lids. ‘My apartment or your hotel—take your pick.’

SHE had been in danger in falling for his formidable charms all over again, Eloise thought with dismay. He only had to take her in his arms and every sensible thought flew her brain. ‘Your place or mine.’ If he thought she was falling for that corny line, he was mistaken.

‘Really, Marcus, surely you can come up with something better than that?’ She gave a light laugh, casting him a glance from beneath the thick fringe of her lashes. ‘I’ve heard better chat-up lines from a teenager.’

‘I’m sure you have, and acted on them,’ Marcus said, with dark emphasis. ‘But, unlike Ted Charlton, I want a lot more from you than a one-night stand.’

‘You think… Ted and me…?’ Her sophistication slipped, and shock had her spluttering incoherently. ‘Why, you…you…’

Grasping her by the elbow, he led her towards the table, his long fingers biting into the flesh of her arm as his dark head bent intimately towards her, giving the impression to anyone watching they were a close and loving couple, while mouthing harshly, ‘You stole from my family.’

She was badly shaken by his assumption she had slept with Ted, and the instant racing of her pulse as his warm breath caressed her ear didn’t help. She could barely take in what he was saying, until he concluded with sibilant softness, ‘And I want you back in my bed until I consider the debt is paid.’